


Flashes

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Kinda, M/M, also i suck at summaries, coran had a bet w allura but you'll only see it w a microscope, how do u write, i think i'll look stupid if lance wont have the red lion whatever, im still new to this ok, keith's knives, klance, klangst, lance has the red lion, what do i put here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-08 11:03:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11645259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Each flash represents an important moment to Lance. From the moment he left for Garrison and the last one.





	Flashes

**Author's Note:**

> sorry for my mistakes in advanced bc i finished this at three thirty am and pls be nice to me this is my first work for this fandom and this website i was shocked that this is my first one

I.  
Lance was checking both of his suit cases just in case he forgot something. A couple of hours ago was his last day with his family before he leaves for Garrison, now, he’s leaving in a few minutes, before the sun rises. He decided to leave early, he didn’t want to see anyone crying. Even though he lied to promise his mother when he said he would still love to eat her home cooked breakfast, he still wants to leave without an actual, proper goodbye. In which he knows, he’ll regret later on.

He zips up his backpack slowly, trying to not cause any noises. He puts it on and slowly drag both of his suitcases. One for his clothes, and the other one for skin care products. Maybe a couple of paired underpants and books, but mostly for skin care. Once he successfully got out of the house without waking anyone, he looks back. For the next four years, he’ll be living without h a different life. Drastically different from the one he’s about to leave. 

For the next four years, he’ll be missing his family more than they’ll miss him. At least that’s what he thought. 

II.   
“I don’t like reminding you this, but if I have to, I will do so. You know that you’re only here because the best pilot in your class had a conduct issue and flunked out, right?” Lance failed Pidge and Hunk again, at least that’s what he feels like. If he was just as good as Keith, maybe he wouldn’t have failed. His team wouldn’t have failed. 

The three walked out of the simulator with disappointed and ashamed faces to stand behind their class, impatiently waiting for the time when they get dismissed. Lance thinks when are four years over? How long have I been here again? 

When Lance left home without saying a real good bye, he thought his life would be better now that he got into a space school. But is it better? No, it’s just worse now that there’s always someone who has to be better than him. Someone who is always better than him. What if he just stayed home or went to a normal school, whatever that is. He started wondering if this is all a mistake. This could’ve been his chance to make his family proud, but no. He had to mess up, he tells himself. Maybe this, all of this, would just turn out to be a big regret later on in his life. 

III.   
“Look! A distraction! Let’s go.” Pidge says, pointing at the explosion.

“But where would it come from?” Lance asks, admiring the strange huge machine that just landed on his plant right before his eyes.

 

“There’s a guy running! Is that Keith?” He gasped at the words that came out of Hunk’s mouth.

 

“That guy is always one upping me, let’s go! I at least need to beat him on this one!” Lance yells, hurrying down to the meteor, or whatever came down from space. In his mind, he thinks: I need to get there before Keith does. He runs as fast as he can, but when he got there, Keith was already there. He just sighed believing Keith got a head start. He did, so that’s why Lance lost. Not because Keith is better than Lance. 

When Lance woke up the next day, he remembers riding with Hunk, Pidge, Keith, and Shiro. Can he believe it? Shiro, his oh so greatest idol. Alive and back from the space after a year of being stuck there, apparently. Lance’s eyes sparkled when he saw Shiro’s metal arm, is this what space can do to you? He asked himself.

Lance woke up from serious tones and Hunk’s munching on some type of chips. He couldn’t even process what was happening. All he knew was Keith was tracking something and Pidge gave him some kind of line graph that matched his information, and both somehow looked like a mountain they are now standing in front of. Little did they know their lives would change drastically, little did Lance know. 

 

IV.  
Ever since Lance found out him and his other friends (at least that’s what he calls them, he doesn’t really know what the others think of him other than Hunk) that they’re part of this saving the world team whatever thing, Lance has never fallen asleep so soundly knowing this could be a chance to make his family proud. Even if he has no idea how he’ll communicate with them and say “Ma! Look! I’m in space, and part of the Legendary Defender Voltron! Have you heard about that? I’m the Blue lion’s paladin! Here she is! She sure is pretty, isn’t she?” He pressured himself in doing everything right to be pleased with every outcome, this is his only chance to make them proud.

Until he realized maybe, he’s just a fifth wheeler, a seventh one if he includes Coran and Allura. He asked himself, what’s so special about him? He’s just a paladin, like the rest. Besides, he wasn’t the only paladin Blue has ever had, there’s been a ton before him. So, how is he any different? He’s probably the worst of them all since he thinks he contributes nothing to the team. But it’s ok, because he offers great friendship and funny jokes, even if everyone ignores him. 

V.   
When they escaped from the Galra, Lance wanted to celebrate and enjoy the moment because they’re all still alive. That feeling, of course, was broken when he heard his fellow paladins calling out for Shiro. He and the others didn’t hear any response, their worries were expressed through the shakiness of their voices and the look marked on their faces. Lance didn’t know what to feel now that their leader is lost. 

Lance definitely didn’t know what to feel when he was told that he’s going to be piloting Red lion either. Apparently, when Shiro was still around, he wanted Keith to replace him as their leader. He didn’t know what to do or what he would tell Blue, is he going to be like “Uh...hey there, Blue. I’m not the one piloting you anymore, so take care okay?” Then will he turn to Allura and ask, “Take good care of Blue. I don’t want to see a single scratch on her.” 

That’s probably what he’s going to do. 

But his bigger problem is how to get Red to open up and how to cheer up the lion’s previous owner as well. He probably should’ve gone to Red first, but instead, he went to Keith. 

“Hey man…” 

VI.  
Lance missed Blue a lot, more than he expected. But he knew it was going to be different with Red. With the short amount of time that was given to him, he has barely connected with the lion. His only achievement with Red is the fact that Red let him in. He’s still new to piloting Red, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know what the lion is capable of doing. 

Lance never realized how he has bonded so much with Red that when he was in trouble without the lion, his instinct wasn’t about Blue. Instead, it was Red coming to save him. He was calling out to his current lion. They were back to the space mall and Lance didn’t feel the need of bringing Red with him. But once they were spotted by Galras, he was in trouble. He didn’t expect a friend to come for him, but he was thinking about it. 

Although, Lance realized that he got so comfortable with Red that maybe he forgot about Blue. He was conflicted and still was on their way back. Lance stood behind Keith, who is presently driving the Black lion, with arms crossed and eyebrows raised at nothing. It was his thoughts towards Blue and Red. He’s gotten so confused that he started comparing them to each other. 

But, does Blue even think about him nowadays? 

Lance’s mood was destroyed by the time Allura greeted them “Welcome back!” at the castle. He was already heading back to his room when the unexpected happened, Keith was calling out his name. 

As much as he hates to admit it, Keith and Lance has been talking a lot. Lance found it surprising when their leader opened up to him, he let him comfort him. Ever since then, the two talked more than what everyone else (even them) expected to. They’ve learned to practice together without actually trying to kill each other, but the teasing and bickering are still there. 

“Huh?” Lance replied cluelessly. All he wanted, for now, was to take a nap so that he wouldn't be able to worry about his thoughts or anything.   
“Is uh...something bothering you?” There were hesitation and shyness in Keith’s voice. He was delaying his plan to ask the other boy if something was wrong since he is used to Lance cheering him up and he has no idea how he does it. But he decided to ask him anyway, it’s the least he can do for him after their friendship started to bloom. 

“It’s nothing, really. It’s stupid.” Lance answered, mumbling the last few words. 

“No it’s not, let’s talk.” 

VII.   
Keith suggested Lance should go talk to Blue. He did and he felt better. The more they talked, the more they trusted each other. As they spend time together, they connected and got more comfortable with each other. 

Sometimes, they would spend an hour or so taking care of their skin. Well, mostly Lance telling Keith what to do because he’s still not familiar enough with skin care products even though he has crystal clear skin. They found out that they both like peel off masks the best and find it satisfying when it comes off as a whole. 

Since most of the times they would be in Lance’s room, Lance would never forget the first time Keith let him in his room. 

“Dang, how many swords do you need?” Lance heard himself say and regret it immediately because he knows each one means something to Keith. Those knives probably have more worth than Lance will ever have to Keith. But the taller boy still insists on knowing what the other one really feels, he has used ‘I’ll never know until I try’ as his mindset. 

Lance realized that for Pete’s sake, he’s kicking ass in space and is part of Voltron to save the universe. What else can’t he do? While he’s setting up his legacy (he’s was 100% sure he’ll be known for being part of Voltron, but when he realized their victory here in space might be even a low-key one it dropped by a few percentage so he’s not sure yet), he should at least have some love life right? 

Asking a guy that he likes is nothing compared to fighting evil guys in space, right? At least that’s what he thought. A couple of couraging words from Hunk helped him a lot though. Especially at this moment as he stares at Keith’s back while the other is looking for something Lance didn’t pay attention at. He was busy practicing the sentence he wants to say mentally. He even debated with himself if he should just spit it out or Segway through it.

Keith finally faced Lance while holding a spray of some sort and Lance’s eyes were wide. Lance nervously puts his hands inside of his jacket’s pockets and started fiddling with Keith’s hair ties that he asked to hold for him. It’s been a few weeks though. 

Lance was on the edge that he didn’t realize one of Keith’s hair ties is wrapped around his wrist when he scratched the back of his own neck out of fear. 

But it’s now or never, “Keith...I want to ask you something.” 

Keith sat down on the edge of his bed to clean his swords while Lance stays standing up, “What?” 

“Are you...dating someone?” Lance asks, hoping he doesn’t get rejected before he even asks. 

“I don’t feel like dating anyone.” Keith watched Lance’s facial expression change. He looks like he took the rejection to his heart and back. “But I will if it’s you.” 

The two blushing paladins heard nothing else other than screams from outside the room. 

“Took them long enough! Coran, pay up! Keith did it first!” 

VIII.   
Keith and Lance stayed up until they lost track of time talking and learning more about each other. They mentally took notes of what the other’s likes and dislikes are. Lance learned that Keith hates it when people cross over their boundaries. While Keith found out the differences between Lance’s skin care products and the fact that his boyfriend loves the ocean. 

Lance was using Keith’s arm as his pillow and both stared at each other talk. They were always like this whenever someone would talk, they would always observe the other and realize how they’re either passionate about it or despise it. Just by looking at Lance’s face, Keith figured out how much Lance misses Earth. But not just Earth, he misses his family and the ocean too  
. 

“Y’know, I regret not staying a few hours longer when I left. Now that we have no idea what year it is or how long we’ve been out here, I should’ve waited until sunrise. I should’ve eaten my Ma’s breakfast. I should’ve stopped by the beach.” Lance admitted both to himself and Keith, maybe he’s been knowing for a while, but he never said it before. 

Keith stays silent and lets his significant other talk, “Have I ever told you I’m the youngest? It doesn’t feel like it though, I’m always the one taking care of my nephews and nieces since most of us go to work.” He gazed at Lance’s eyes and noticed how it quickly shifted from the verge of tears to just pure bliss. 

Lance talked and talked, told funny fails to keep both awake until they can’t anymore. But Keith shared his funny moments too, but they got serious again once Lance asked a question, “When do you think we’ll be back to Earth? Don’t get me wrong, I love it out here. I really do, but I miss Earth too.” He wanted to say so much more like how he misses the ocean’s waves, the feeling of sand in between his toes, chasing the umbrella when the wind was too strong, and bonding his family. 

“I don’t know how long we’ve been out here, but I know we’ll be back soon. I know your family misses you as much as you miss them.” Keith comforts his boyfriend and intertwines their fingers together since they were already holding hands. 

“I know.” Lance scoots closer to his boyfriend to warm both of themselves and confesses, “I’m excited to what will happen to us in the future. In Earth.” 

Keith was stunned by the statement, it’s not like he didn’t think there was one, he just never thought what it would be like. But the moments, laughter, and tears they’ve shared together screamed out one word: marriage. 

He was happy at the thought, “I hope we’ll get married soon.”

“Oooh! What color should our suits be? I want to have our reception at a beach too! I don’t want a small wedding though, everyone has to be at our wedding and celebrating our marriage. Because everything is about us.” Both let a chuckle out and one thought only filled both heads. 

They were content and happy with each other’s presence. They could do this forever. 

“Since you love the ocean so much, I predict you want to live in a beach house?” Keith asks, playing with his boyfriend’s hair. 

“Yeah, if it’s not too much, I want to live near my family too.” He replied, letting his head relax against Keith’s chest. 

“There’s no such thing as too much when it comes to you. Just for you.” 

Who knew Keith can be this affectionate? Well, maybe just for Lance. 

When Keith woke up, he already found Lance awake staring at him. The first thing he asked was for a hair tie, it just became a habit. 

IX.   
Things weren’t going their own way and they have no idea how to turn the tables around for their own convenience. As the leader of Voltron, Keith’s job was to go for the main boss. But not in this case when their opponents have their leader tied up in a cell without any weapons and guards watching him closely. He was hopeless and ready to face his death. He has nothing to lose at this point.

But then, he remembered what Lance and he planned for both of their futures once they’re done as paladins. He thought of one thing: he still has a future with Lance. He knew his significant other will be furious if he finds out that he’ll give up easily. 

Besides, they couldn’t lose another leader. 

He observed quickly to see what he has surrounding him, he doesn’t have his helmet on and just had dust with him. It wasn’t a stupid idea to wear his normal clothes to the space mall until now when he has nothing, but connecting with the Black lion is still communication. And connecting with his lion was his only way of being found. So he did and he waited. 

But regrets it immediately when he realized that it was a selfish move. They’re going to get killed. He should’ve just let things and himself go. He isn’t worth it anyway. He hoped with his only remaining energy that his friends don’t come. They don’t deserve to be fighting for his life, he doesn’t deserve it either. Because at this point, he’s given up. 

But when the Black lion was banging through the walls and the alarms were ringing, Keith looked up and blamed himself again. He shouldn’t have done it. He could’ve dealt with it by himself. He was screaming at the top of his lungs, “Get out! Don’t come in here!” 

When there was a hole big enough to fit the lions, each one came in, Lance being the first after the Black Lion. Next thing he knew, Lance was coming out suitless, with his casual clothing, and rushing towards to where he was. Keith was greeted with a hug and a simple yet meaningful statement, “You worried me to hell.” 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have called my lion to be out here. Cancel the plan, we need to go now. I should’ve faced it myself, I could’ve gotten out here on my own. I brought you guys in danger. I brought you in danger.” 

“I’m fine, shh. We just need to get out of here.” Both stood up to walk back to their lions and forfeit before the real fight actually happens. At least that’s what they were hoping to happen. Yet, they still didn’t hope enough. No one saw it coming. 

Especially not Lance. But when he noticed his teammates’ widened eyes and screaming, he couldn’t bring himself to turn around as someone was already hugging him close. He felt Keith’s hair tickle his neck and felt the bullet hit Keith. The bullet that burnt pass through Keith’s jacket, skin, then internally. 

Lance couldn’t get himself to move and process what was happening. he saw each moment with Keith, good or bad, flash before his eyes. Even the moment that started everything, the cause of who he is now. Each one representing how much he has grown fond of Keith. And how much he’s changed, how much he has learned and progressed. 

But when he kneeled down, he came into realization that there was a pool of blood, Keith’s blood, he cupped his boyfriend’s cheeks and mouthed, “You can’t die. Our wedding? Earth? Keith, babe, we didn’t plan it for nothing.”

Keith opened his eyes and took most of his love for Lance to hold his boyfriend’s hand and say, “It was worth it. You’re worth it. I love you.” 

Lance carries Keith to Red quickly as their teammates try to make an escape route, everyone with fighting with tears and proper gear. Lance should’ve suited up, so he could’ve at least saved Keith, the reason why they went here the first place. Just another one to his long list of regrets.

But when Lance reached the castle and Coran were ready to operate, it was already too late. Keith’s heart wasn’t beating for him anymore. It wasn’t even beating in the first place. 

Lance just let himself fall down and cry. Keith was the only best thing that happens to him in this time of his life. But he lost it. Why couldn’t he just let Lance take the bullet? If that happened, maybe Lance would feel at Earth again. Nothing but peace and serenity. 

He doesn't know what to do now, maybe he never did. Not without Lance.

**Author's Note:**

> i guess u can say i pulled an ace card


End file.
